Ceiling fan alternator update

[Gotwind Ben]

Agreed.
I guess it is a case of volume/demand.
If a ceiling fan can be made and sold for £13 ($21), and still make a profit, all be it small.

Surely if demand were high enough,China could add a few neo magnets and provide something similar.

A PMG for $21, maybe a complete turbine for $50, great :D

The best I have seen is the Navitron 300w turbine (from China) £264 ($429)
http://www.navitron.org.uk/product_deta ... 3&catID=69

I've seen that same turbine on eBay in the USA for £150 :shock:

[Gotwind Ben]

Update on the ceiling motor as a pm alternator.
Dissapointing, loads of volts but minimal current, therefore very little power to be had.
It only cost me £15, so not a real problem.

I agree with Ghurds commemts over on the fieldlines forum.

I do not see them as worth the effort.
(metric to US, 0.18mm is about #34!)

"Fixing" the problems is more difficult than starting with a better motor.
Problems- Thin stator, huge resistance, no decent flux path 'behind' the magnets, not possible to configure in 3-ph (meaning it will cog with correctly placed magnets) , cheap bearings (usually), wire hardly large enough to see let alone work with, nearly impossible to reassemble correctly after the modifications...
And a 220V is worse than 110V in the resistance area.

Easier to start with an old box fan type motor, the kind with 6 coils.
The old furnace blower motors just like them, but 3~4X thicker, are a lot better.
Then just add 4 magnets and suitably separate the coils.
Tools required- hack saw, file, pliers, soldering iron.
Problems?- all I ever found had bushings.
Not perfect, but a LOT better.
G-

nevermind ben at least now we know not to go down that path.......i was going to buy a fan but now think i will leave it alone......thanks again regards helinelly

Shame it didn't work, experimenting is as much about finding out what doesn't work as what does work.

TimL
I imported a couple of the Ginlong pma's 2-3 years ago and i would recommend them, i put one on a small testbed a video on You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HDHP2L2hks and worked really well even with a pretty small Futurenergy rotor. that lives in Southern Ireland now with 3.2 metre blades on it.
The V.A.T. puts a lump onto any of these imported items & as you say sometimes the profit margins asked are excessive.

T.L.G. in U.S.A. use them now, and they will sell them but their mark up is pretty darned high.

Thanks for that. Yes, not surprised at all that they work so well, when I looked at their construction it seemed to me that they'd done everything right. Still, with bicycle hub motor ball bearing races costing £20 a set to replace, I'd need to chew up quite a few sets before the whole thing began to compare with the purchase price of a Ginlong.

That vid of yours reminds me very much of my own turbines' current siting - behind the house and much too low, so as to escape the notice of the Planning Pencilnecks!.